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If you know Russian, use it. Despite the political situation, Georgians are smart and open minded. They may not like the Russian government but they love Russian people and they love the Russian language.
I'm pretty convinced after seven months in Georgia that people learn Russian there for just the same reason foreigners everywhere learn English: it's cool ...

No problems at all. The two countries are friends especially due to the pipeline bringing oil from Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia. Nationals of either country can visit the other without visas.
Border crossings
There are two active border crossings and I believe one inactive one.
The main one is on the Black Sea coast and is very busy and has been ...

Not at all. I lived in Georgia from November 2011 to May 2012 and there were lots of people visiting from nearby Muslim and Arab countries.
In fact Georgia seemed one of the easiest countries to travel to for various Muslim and Arab countries going by conversations I had with people I met while working there in a backpacker hostel. I think in terms of ...

Take the train to Makhinjauri (also transcribed Makhindjauri) - that's the closest passenger station to Batumi. (Though you can just as well ask for a ticket to Batumi.)
There's currently one night train every day, which departs Tbilisi at 22.45 and arrives at 7.25 (the one from Batumi to Tbilisi leaves at 22:25). So the travel time is 8h 40min. The train ...

As a general rule when travelling, I've always been surprised by how helpful pharmacists are.
They often speak quite a bit of English
In many countries they have the authority to provide certain prescription drugs otherwise available only from doctors
They often are surprisingly good at telling you what the local equivalent is for an American medication, ...

Typically there is very little amount of snow in Tbilisi which usually melts in a day or two in most parts of the city but it can also pile up and go icy (in 2008 we had snow for about three weeks). Wind and rain is more common.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'special winter clothes' but a sweater and a coat should be enough most of the time. You will also ...

The situation is very complicated. Georgia says that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are Georgian territories, and you can go there from Georgia by this border crossing:
to South Ossetia from Gori - my friends from Germany made a trip this year.
If you get into these territories not by these points, you would get problems (fee from $1200 or jail up to 5 ...

There is single point to cross border between Georgia and Russia: Verchniy Lars. It is open for the cars since March 1, 2010. Note that you have to get the Georgian and Russian visas to cross the border.
You can't cross the Georgian border from South Ossetia or Abkhazia territories! It is criminal in the Georgia, and you can get problems there.
Update:
...

The situation is very complicated. Georgia says that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are Georgian territories, and you can go there from Georgia by this border crossing:
to Abkhazia from Zugdidi - my friends from Germany made such trip this year. But they say that they got some local help for the border-crossing, because Abkhazia trying to close the border to ...

A Dutch friend of mine just took this ferry in the Georgia→Ukraine direction so I asked him for some details:
Company name: UkrFerry
Ship name: Greifswald
Quoted boarding time in Batumi: 10pm
Actual departure time from Batumi: ~ 8am
Quoted duration of trip: 60 hours
Actual duration of trip: ~ 55 hours
Price: USD $170 for a bed in a 2-bed cabin
There were ...

This train is cancelled because of political crisis between Russia and Georgia (as I think, because the route was on rebel territories, and this was definitely done according to the orders from Russian president).
For now air and automobile connections are started to being reestablished, but not the train.
All you can do - use the train to the Baku (Sorry, ...

From http://www.ferrylines.com/en/ferries/ferries-in-the-black-sea/
it would seem to be NO, but it does indicate you could travel to Bulgaria.
Aussies don't need a visa for Bulgaria, so you could then take a train up to Bucharest from within Bulgaria. Bucharest to Istanbul is 16 hours, so from Bulgaria wouldn't be a long trip.

I think you just need to dig a bit deaper into the NavBul website!
From their Ferry page:
Two identical ferryboat vessels operated by NAVIBULGAR ("Geroite na Sevastopol" and "Geroite na Odesa") each with total carrying capacity of 108 waggons/900 cars/100 motor trucks up to 16m length operate the regular lines:
Varna - Ilichevsk - Varna
Varna ...

I tried to visit it today. No signs of a museum there. Guy from hardware store nearby led us to a steel fence and we made our way inside. Stalin's postument is no longer there and we found a guy lying on a bed surrounded with vodka and beer bottles and ashtray full of fags, he himself looked as Stalin with his moustache and hairstyle;) So I don't think that ...

You can also get a visa in Transnistria, which might be an interesting place to visit for you as you seem to be keen on countries with legal definition problems. The Wikipedia article seems not to be totally up-to-date with that information as it says there are only 2 embassies abroad (Russia and Venezuela). Although I must admit that I didn t see it myself ...

Everything I've been told about Russian visas (and I'm in Russia now) is that you can ONLY apply for a visa from your country of citizenship, OR your country of residency, if the two are different. Which was handy for me as a New Zealander living in the UK.
From http://www.visatorussia.com/russianvisa.nsf/FaqNew.html :
"If you apply for a visa not in your ...

I crossed the border from Turkey to Georgia about midnight last night.
There were no obvious exchange booths like at many borders but I didn't go into the duty free store.
I'm now in Tbilisi and most exchange places I've seen (of which there are many) only display rates for USD, EUR, and RUB.
UPDATE
I've now been in Georgia almost seven months and can ...

Caspian Sea is quite good for surfing.
My hometown even holds competitions on kite-surfing. The best time for this is in August and September. Later is bit dodgy as waves are really high and water is cold.
So I would advice to go to Makhachkala.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcvgxA6y7UA
N.B. Be careful nowadays it’s not the safest place in the world :(

It turns out I didn't put 2 and 2 together because the answer is not spelled out obviously enough for somebody in a mild panic to spot.
You can call the US "Global Card Assistance Service" from anywhere in the world using Skype even though it's a toll-free number:
+1 800 847 2911
If there's no Visa Card office in the country you are in it doesn't ...

It's tough to make one general blanket statement about the water and sanitation system for an entire country with it being accurate everywhere in the country. Plugging in some places I've traveled gives similar results to what you and Jonik have noted...while it's not bad overall, it's not very precise, like for example, in Costa Rica, our travel guides said ...

You are quite safe if you have no European good-looking girls in your company. If you have such girls you might be in big trouble, because Bride kidnapping is still a popular ritual in Georgia and Chechnya.
Pass the border between Georgia and Russia is better in Kazbegi (Other roads go through Abkhazia and North Ossetia - if you want to visit those ...

No.
Currently (June 2014), there is no rail link between Turkey and Georgia.
A railway link from Turkey to Georgia is under construction: see Kars-Tblisi-Baku railway on Wikipedia.
The railway link between Georgia and Russia is currently closed due to the political conflict in Abkhazia. See Georgian Railways, again on Wikipedia.
You might be able to ...

Even if Iran's neighbouring countries have good relations with Iran, the question is whether the banking system in the neighbouring countries is liable to the sanctions.
Cash withdrawals through ATMs between different banks are handled through interbank networks, many of which exist as standalone networks within a country (as the Wikipedia article linked ...

While I'm not in Tbilisi myself, my wife and children are at present in Georgia, having been in Tbilisi during the flood and the following week, although they now went to the summer house in the mountains. I have been speaking with them almost daily - so this is almost a first person account.
Severe flooding did occur a couple of weeks ago in Tbilisi, ...

As I've said in this answer, you can use Baku as connection point, and use train to travel. There is no such problems on the border between Azerbaijan and Russia, and you wouldn't spend much time on this trip.
Another option is to get into the Abkhazia from Georgia (if you can), and use the train to the Moscow. But in this case you'll get problems with ...

You can do such trip by "UkrFerry" company:
From Kerch to Poti every Tuesday, at next day you are at Poti. Operations service phone: +38 (0482) 34-76-63.
According to official forum, schedule is set at the start of each month, so you should call there before you came in Kerch. Also there is a line Batumi - Ilyichevsk, which is more popular line (ferry ...

I just met a friend yesterday who came back from a journey to Georgia. He wanted also to cross the border to Russia but it wasn't possible. They told him it is only allowed for Russian and Georgian citizens.
Don't know if they told him wrong facts, but afaik the border is closed.